Skiing is no longer conceivable – and this applies to everyone – without the production of artificial snow. No one denies at this point, as was the case decades ago, that climate change is taking its toll on this business or activity. The proof is in the significant investments made by the stations in recent years in artificial snowmaking.
One month away from the end of a year, 2023, which will go down in history as the driest since records began, talk of artificial snow (water and light consumption) raises more questions than certainties.
For many, the excuse that this activity has become the main economic engine of the regions where the resorts are located would not justify this extra expenditure of water and energy for the enjoyment of skiers and the benefit of those who exploit them.
Explaining that the water used to make snow comes from ponds where it is stored throughout the year and not from a direct supply from rivers, ravines or streams, does not seem to convince those most critical of the new rules of the game in this activity either. Not even the phrase so repeated from those stations, such as that the water used to make snow stays in those mountains as it filters into the ground itself when the thicknesses melt. It is a closed circuit.
All of this – it has become very clear this morning in the presentation of the first Snow Laboratory by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat – does not imply “that we are letting our guard down and not working to achieve maximum sustainability and maximum savings in water and energy”, is recalled from that public institution, which manages a good part of the ski resorts in Catalonia. All, except Baqueria-Beret, Masella and Port del Compte, which remain in private hands.
What is the Snow Laboratory? “A unique innovation technology in the world”, where Ferrocarrils and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) “join efforts to develop a snow production technology that is as sustainable as possible”, it was stated at that event.
The new system will be launched this season in Boí-Taüll and La Molina. It relies on the knowledge of the company TechnoAlpin, a leader in snow manufacturing technology, and financial aid from Next Generation EU funds, through the State Research Agency.
The project, unique in the world, plans to advance this new technology, successfully developed within a laboratory. Behind is Albert Verdaguer, senior scientist at the CSIC. Now the time has come to abandon the test tubes and put the discovery into practice. That will be immediate, in Alta Ribagorça and Cerdanya.
In this Snow Laboratory “the natural process of water mineralization has been simulated, reproduced on a small scale, which breaks with the technology applied to date, which exclusively uses water as the raw material to produce snow,” say the creators. of the project.
It’s all very scientific. “Through this mineralization, a core is achieved that facilitates the formation of the snowflake much more quickly, with more consistency and at a higher temperature – this is key with climate change.
Verdaguer emphasizes that “in the atmosphere there are not only water droplets, we also find suspended particles (sea salt, pollen, minerals…) on which water condenses to favor clouds and promote precipitation.”
In this peculiar experiment, minerals from the feldspar group are used. And the first question is: does this affect the quality of the water or can it cause damage to the environment? The researchers assure that these minerals “are harmless to the environment and are part of a very abundant natural resource on earth.” So they do not alter, it is assured, “chemically the composition of the water.”
The project, stated by Ferrocarrils, is very ambitious. “We are developing a unique technology so that it can be used in any station in the world.”
This system must also allow energy savings, which in the case of the stations managed by the Generalitat, is green.
This work is included in the objective set by ski resorts to reduce electrical energy consumption by 50% between now and 2030. And for this, technology plays a determining role.
